[…] Dr. Raj Shah is a leader in the development community, an innovative and results-oriented manager, and someone who understands the importance of providing people around the world with the tools they need to lift themselves out of poverty and chart their own destinies.
By nominating Raj to lead the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

[…] USAID said the program, which builds on USAID’s historical successes in disease surveillance, training and outbreak response, aims to pre-empt or combat, at their sources, newly emerging diseases of animal origin that could threaten human health. Examples of such diseases include HIV/AIDS, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), H5N1 avian influenza and the 2009 H1N1 swine influenza virus.

[…] As part of her first visit to Pakistan as secretary of state, Hillary Rodham Clinton announced millions of dollars in U.S. assistance to benefit a variety of the country’s programs and institutions, ranging from humanitarian, education and security assistance to microloans and a cellular-phone social network. The secretary has said she wants to “turn the page” in the relationship between Pakistan and the United States beyond their security cooperation and efforts to combat violent extremism.

[…] A major U.S. foundation is giving $120 million in grants to nine organizations to help small farmers in developing countries. “Helping the poorest smallholder farmers grow more crops and get them to market is the world’s single most powerful lever to reduce hunger and poverty,” said Bill Gates, founder of the Microsoft Corporation and co-chairman of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He spoke at an international symposium on food and agriculture in Des Moines, Iowa, October 15.

[…] The United States continues to provide a range of humanitarian assistance across East Asia and the Pacific following a tsunami, earthquakes, typhoons, flooding from torrential rains and mud-soaked landslides.
Through direct support and through international relief agencies like the Red Cross, the United States is providing emergency relief funds; disaster response teams; U.S. military support from the Navy, Marines and Air Force; and relief supplies including food, water, temporary shelters and medical supplies.

[…] The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is sending two disaster assessment teams to American Samoa, along with a team from the U.S. Coast Guard, to assess the impact of an earthquake, the ensuing tsunami and extensive flooding, the White House says. “We also stand ready to help our friends in neighboring Samoa and throughout the region, and we’ll continue to monitor the situation closely as we keep the many people who’ve been touched by this tragedy in our thoughts and in our prayers,” President Obama said September 30.

[…] The United States is tripling annual aid to Pakistan to help the Pakistani people achieve greater security and prosperity, President Obama says. The U.S. Senate approved legislation September 24 to authorize U.S. aid totaling $7.5 billion spread equally over five years. Its approval came as the Friends of Democratic Pakistan, founded by 13 nations including the United States, met on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York.

[…] The United States is getting back into the work of helping poor, developing countries increase their agricultural output, a policy it abandoned nearly three decades ago, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said. “We moved away from investments in agricultural productivity, toward emergency food aid [in 1981],” Clinton said in a speech at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York September 25. “Revitalizing global agriculture will not be easy.

[…] The board of directors of the U.S. Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), chaired by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, approved a five-year, $540 million compact grant to the Republic of Senegal to reduce poverty through economic growth. The compact, according to a September 7 MCC announcement, will focus on road rehabilitation and food security initiatives in some of the poorest regions of Senegal.

[…] Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has terminated millions of dollars in nonhumanitarian assistance to Honduras over the ouster of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya. “The secretary of state has made the decision, consistent with U.S. legislation, recognizing the need for strong measures in light of the continued resistance to the adoption of the San Jose Accord by the de facto regime and continuing failure to restore democratic, constitutional rule to Honduras,” State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said in a prepared statement September 3.

[…] U.S. officials marked the first World Humanitarian Day by announcing an additional $160 million to support global aid work and calling for governments and parties in conflict areas around the world to pay attention to the safety of humanitarian workers. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said in an August 19 statement that World Humanitarian Day is being observed to increase public awareness of the activities of aid groups and volunteers, as well as to honor their efforts to help the world’s most vulnerable people.

The success of our collective response to humanitarian crises rests on the selfless commitment and dedication of professional humanitarian aid workers. Increasingly however, aid workers themselves are targets of attack – in 2008 alone a record 260 humanitarian aid workers were killed, kidnapped or seriously injured in violent attacks. We call upon all governments and parties in conflict to give their highest attention to the safety and security of humanitarian personnel.